142 research outputs found
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An overview of web accessibility in Greece: a comparative study 2004-2008
This communication reports on the results of a web accessibility audit of public Web sites in Greece. The audit was conducted in 2008 by the Human Computer Interaction Laboratory of the Institute of Computer Science of FORTH, in its capacity as the Greek National Contact Centre of the European Design for All e-Accessibility Network. In an earlier e-Accessibility study in 2004, that evaluated approximately 250 public and commercial Web sites in Greece, 73% of the sample failed to meet the most basic requirements for web accessibility (http://www.infosoc.gr/NR/rdonlyres/0B306F9C-A819-4F96-ABB1-A21945D1D2B3/1092/final_report.pdf). Four years later, in the context of a re-audit, a similar sample was examined for compliance with the same web accessibility standard (WCAG 1.0), as set by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. The accessibility checks were conducted during the period from March to September 2008. A comparison of the results indicates that although new web development technologies may have been employed, instead of improving the overall status of e-accessibility, this has resulted in a serious deterioration in overall accessibility levels. Such findings—85% of sites failed to comply with Level A—suggest that Greek Web sites are likely to present even more significant access barriers to people with disability than in the past. As Web Accessibility is poorly understood and, until today, new platforms have failed to deliver products that conform to WCAG, the need emerges for a concrete legislative framework to set accessibility specifications for all public Web sites in Greece
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Facilitating virtual networking for Design for All in Europe: The HERMES platform
This paper reports on HERMES, the virtual networking platform of the European Design for All eAccessibility Network (EDeAN) that was established in 2002 by the European Commission in order to stimulate European network activities within the area of Design for All, with particular focus on ICT and e-Accessibility. The paper reports on the development and utilisation of the networking platform developed to enable the cooperation of EDeAN members through an accessible interface over the World Wide Web. HERMES is available at http://www.edean.or
Spin exchange in quantum rings and wires in the Wigner-crystal limit
We present a controlled method for computing the exchange coupling in
strongly correlated one-dimensional electron systems. It is based on the
asymptotically exact relation between the exchange constant and the
pair-correlation function of spinless electrons. Explicit results are obtained
for thin quantum rings with realistic Coulomb interactions, by calculating this
function via a many-body instanton approach.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Changes in the text and figures to improve
readability; added reference
Nuclear magnetic resonance probes for the Kondo scenario for the 0.7 feature in semiconductor quantum point contact devices
We propose a probe based on nuclear relaxation and Knight shift measurements
for the Kondo scenario for the "0.7 feature" in semiconductor quantum point
contact (QPC) devices. We show that the presence of a bound electron in the QPC
would lead to a much higher rate of nuclear relaxation compared to nuclear
relaxation through exchange of spin with conduction electrons. Furthermore, we
show that the temperature dependence of this nuclear relaxation is very
non-monotonic as opposed to the linear-T relaxation from coupling with
conduction electrons. We present a qualitative analysis for the additional
relaxation due to nuclear spin diffusion (NSD) and study the extent to which
NSD affects the range of validity of our method. The conclusion is that nuclear
relaxation, in combination with Knight shift measurements, can be used to
verify whether the 0.7 feature is indeed due to the presence of a bound
electron in the QPC.Comment: Published version. Appears in a Special Section on the 0.7 Feature
and Interactions in One-Dimensional Systems. 16 page
Electron waves in chemically substituted graphene
We present exact analytical and numerical results for the electronic spectra
and the Friedel oscillations around a substitutional impurity atom in a
graphene lattice. A chemical dopant in graphene introduces changes in the
on-site potential as well as in the hopping amplitude. We employ a T-matrix
formalism and find that disorder in the hopping introduces additional
interference terms around the impurity that can be understood in terms of
bound, semi-bound, and unbound processes for the Dirac electrons. These
interference effects can be detected by scanning tunneling microscopy.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
Wigner crystal physics in quantum wires
The physics of interacting quantum wires has attracted a lot of attention
recently. When the density of electrons in the wire is very low, the strong
repulsion between electrons leads to the formation of a Wigner crystal. We
review the rich spin and orbital properties of the Wigner crystal, both in the
one-dimensional and quasi-one-dimensional regime. In the one-dimensional Wigner
crystal the electron spins form an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with
exponentially small exchange coupling. In the presence of leads the resulting
inhomogeneity of the electron density causes a violation of spin-charge
separation. As a consequence the spin degrees of freedom affect the conductance
of the wire. Upon increasing the electron density, the Wigner crystal starts
deviating from the strictly one-dimensional geometry, forming a zigzag
structure instead. Spin interactions in this regime are dominated by ring
exchanges, and the phase diagram of the resulting zigzag spin chain has a
number of unpolarized phases as well as regions of complete and partial spin
polarization. Finally we address the orbital properties in the vicinity of the
transition from a one-dimensional to a quasi-one-dimensional state. Due to the
locking between chains in the zigzag Wigner crystal, only one gapless mode
exists. Manifestations of Wigner crystal physics at weak interactions are
explored by studying the fate of the additional gapped low-energy mode as a
function of interaction strength.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures; v2: references adde
Techniques for Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Inoculum Reduction
It is well established that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can play a significant role in sustainable crop production and environmental conservation. With the increasing awareness of the ecological significance of mycorrhizas and their diversity, research needs to be directed away from simple records of their occurrence or casual speculation of their function (Smith and Read 1997). Rather, the need is for empirical studies and investigations of the quantitative aspects of the distribution of different types and their contribution to the function of ecosystems.
There is no such thing as a fungal effect or a plant effect, but there is an interaction between both symbionts. This results from the AM fungi and plant community size and structure, soil and climatic conditions, and the interplay between all these factors (Kahiluoto et al. 2000). Consequently, it is readily understood that it is the problems associated with methodology that limit our understanding of the functioning and effects of AM fungi within field communities.
Given the ubiquous presence of AM fungi, a major constraint to the evaluation of the activity of AM colonisation has been the need to account for the indigenous soil native inoculum. This has to be controlled (i.e. reduced or eliminated) if we are to obtain a true control treatment for analysis of arbuscular mycorrhizas in natural substrates. There are various procedures possible for achieving such an objective, and the purpose of this chapter is to provide details of a number of techniques and present some evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages.
Although there have been a large number of experiments to investigated the effectiveness of different sterilization procedures for reducing pathogenic soil fungi, little information is available on their impact on beneficial organisms such as AM fungi. Furthermore, some of the techniques have been shown to affect physical and chemical soil characteristics as well as eliminate soil microorganisms that can interfere with the development of mycorrhizas, and this creates difficulties in the interpretation of results simply in terms of possible mycorrhizal activity.
An important subject is the differentiation of methods that involve sterilization from those focussed on indigenous inoculum reduction. Soil sterilization aims to destroy or eliminate microbial cells while maintaining the existing chemical and physical characteristics of the soil (Wolf and Skipper 1994). Consequently, it is often used for experiments focussed on specific AM fungi, or to establish a negative control in some other types of study. In contrast, the purpose of inoculum reduction techniques is to create a perturbation that will interfere with mycorrhizal formation, although not necessarily eliminating any component group within the inoculum. Such an approach allows the establishment of different degrees of mycorrhizal formation between treatments and the study of relative effects.
Frequently the basic techniques used to achieve complete sterilization or just an inoculum reduction may be similar but the desired outcome is accomplished by adjustments of the dosage or intensity of the treatment. The ultimate choice of methodology for establishing an adequate non-mycorrhizal control depends on the design of the particular experiments, the facilities available and the amount of soil requiring treatment
Context-specific regulation of cell survival by a miRNA-controlled BIM rheostat
Knockout of the ubiquitously expressed miRNA-17~92 cluster in mice produces a lethal developmental lung defect, skeletal abnormalities, and blocked B lymphopoiesis. A shared target of miR-17~92 miRNAs is the pro-apoptotic protein BIM, central to life-death decisions in mammalian cells. To clarify the contribution of miR-17~92:Bim interactions to the complex miR-17~92 knockout phenotype, we used a system of conditional mutagenesis of the nine Bim 3' UTR miR-17~92 seed matches. Blocking miR-17~92:Bim interactions early in development phenocopied the lethal lung phenotype of miR-17~92 ablation and generated a skeletal kinky tail. In the hematopoietic system, instead of causing the predicted B cell developmental block, it produced a selective inability of B cells to resist cellular stress; and prevented B and T cell hyperplasia caused by Bim haploinsufficiency. Thus, the interaction of miR-17~92 with a single target is essential for life, and BIM regulation by miRNAs serves as a rheostat controlling cell survival in specific physiological contexts
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